With headphones booming and volume wheels turning, America’s youth rejoiced over their newly bought technology.  After discarding or selling their now obsolete Walkmans, they became mesmerized by the small glowing screens of their “Ipods”.  They have the choice of getting a phone that is also an Ipod, an Ipod that talks, an Ipod that has a touch screen, an Ipod that can clip on to your shirt and even an Ipod that attaches to your tennis shoes.  Listening to their favorite artists they got inspired to sing, write a song and start a band.  Friends and family marveled over these metal rectangles and they instantly became a part of their lives as they biked, walked, and even drove around the world listening to their Ipods.   Athletes across the world ran, jumped, and played while pumping up their favorite music.  Now that it was so easy to get and hear music, will we ever need anything else?  Will Ipods ever become obsolete themselves?

It all started when “on October 23, 2001 Apple Computers publicly announced their portable music digital player, the iPod,” (Bellis)  The invention of IPods came after one series of events that took place around “Apple Headquarters and a group of inventors/ engineers and other major company players,” (Bellis).  The project codenamed “Dulcimer” came out with the first ever iPod in 2001 (Bellis).  The name “iPod” actually stands for what the device functions as, which is an Internet- Portable Open Database (Bellis).  The major inventor for this brand new music player was Tony Fadell who was called the “father of the ipod,” (Bellis).  After establishing his contract with Apple, Fadell and a team of thirty people worked to develop the new MP3 player.  Other major inventors in this team were Michael Dhuey and Jon Rubinstein who worked with Tony Fadell.  Jonathon Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Computers, continued working on the iPod in order to perfect it even after Fadell and his team were done working on it.  This amazing new music player is unrivaled and continues to dominate the market in sales.  After satisfying the corporations of Apple and Portal Player, Fadell and his team can definitely say they have reached their goal in developing a “Better MP3 player,” (Bellis).   

With such a great product, you can imagine how many people this technology effects every day.  Every person I have ever talked to probably knows what an Ipod is, you hear the word “iPod” or see one at least 5 times a day and you probably own one yourself, so no wonder they are so popular in our country and spreading around the world like wildfire.  Evolving from a big white rectangle with a scroll wheel, awkward buttons and a monochrome screen, we now have a full line of sleek, colorful iPods that fit every need a person should have for their portable music player.  This full line of iPods includes the “iPod Classic”, “iPod Shuffle”, “iPod Nano”, “iPod Touch” and even an iPod that has been integrated with a phone to create the ever so popular “iPhone”.  After the “iPod Touch” and “iPhone” came out this last Christmas in 2008 at least 100 kids just at my school have bought or received one as a gift.  They are amazingly popular and bring joy to all that use them.  I see students jamming to their music down the halls, playing games during class, downloading apps and even surfing the web all around school every day.  Ipods are out there and being made by the thousands reaching every corner of our world. I myself have had 3 or 4 Ipods and I am very pleased with this great product.  These iPods obviously give students at Shorewood High School and billions of others something to do and something to be entertained by, but what are the other positive effects people receive from iPods?

So many people enjoy music and are inspired by music that they want to surround themselves with the music they are familiar to and what makes them happy.  The smooth sound that an iPod produces is so great that no matter what song you are listening to, it will stimulate you as long as you have the device on, but what else do people get from iPods?  Some people who use iPods regularly like to surround themselves with things that are familiar to them like their favorite artists, bands and genre of music (Song).  This allows them to keep their own personal space, retain their autonomy and even “giving them the feeling of control that they like and confidence they need,” (Song).  “When considering what separates a public from a mass society, choice is the key factor…” says Krystle Song from University of Berkely, California.  Choice is definitely a key factor that separates an individual from society when you consider the fact that they have their own style and thoughts.  Obtaining this “must-have accessory” is very affordable, common and gives insight to the person’s style (Song).  A very positive effect of owning an iPod is that you can easily and efficiently expand your interest in music and after exploring a couple of different genres you can share your favorite music with your friends through a headphone splitter or speakers.  Ipods are great for parties considering all you have to do is stick your iPod on a playing dock and hit play in order to play your selected music.  Its that easy and that’s why people love it so much.  “Having control over their own personal space makes people happier,” and that’s exactly what decibel the iPod does for people; IPods are your own personalized technology (Song).

Although iPods have many positive effects to provide for people, they are just like everything else, they are good to use in moderation.  I mostly use my iPod docked onto my Stereo speakers in my room and even when I take mine to school or a sports event I only use it when I am not interacting with others, which is pretty much all of the time.  Ipods might not have so many negative effects on people if they only were smart about how they used this fantastic technology.  Even if an iPod “gives you the opportunity to get into your favorite sounds” that does not mean you should listen to the device all day long (Steffano).  “IPods are a major deterrent to conversation” and “with it becoming increasingly acceptable to converse while still listening to the iPod, you may wonder why people are developing such bad manners and attitudes.  Even if you are aren’t ignoring people while listening to your Ipod, you could still be over using it and exposing your ears to that high of decibel sound all day can cause harm to your ears.  “Up to a quarter of iPod users have listening habits that can damage their hearing” is what research shows in a US- based study (Watts).  “An earlier study, in 2006, found a typical person could safely listen to an iPod for 4.6 hours per day at 70 percent volume,” which is actually about how long some people listen to their iPods a day (AAP).  “At 80 percent volume, the safe listening time was 90 minutes a day but, at full volume, this dropped to just five minutes,” which is way longer then some kids listen to their iPods at full volume (AAP).  Hearing loss is a currrent and future problem for my generation of iPod users as we continue to use iPods uncontrollably.  Now that there is an iPod that is also a phone, will the current generation ever be satisfied with their iPod or will they continue to be distracted by this technology?

The negative effects of the iPod are not only hearing loss, but many other things too.  The damage these devices do to society and being sociable with other people is what I‘m talking about.  Instead of the “i” in ipod standing for “interaction,” “inspiration” and “initiative” it is harming society and its users, turning the “i” in iPod into meaning “I don’t want to talk to you,” or “inattentive” or “insecure” or “impressionable (Song).  This may sound funny, but I believe what is not being said in society in society is what is hurting it.  Crime related incidents are even occurring in our High School as people everyday get their expensive iPods stolen.  From what I can see these people are really pissed off when this happens, because one of my friends, Tim Lourich, just got one of his brand new iPods stolen from him and he was really mad at society as a whole at that point.  People are just not interacting face to face as much as they use to.  The people who are shutting themselves down in their own little world too much are not getting enough face time with other people and may lack in social skills once they grow out of their habits.  Some people have even been killed all thanks to their iPods.  “A 21-year-old man was hit by a bus in Brooklyn and a 20-year-old woman was killed crossing Fifth Avenue in Manhattan while wearing iPod headphones,” just shows how a simple piece of technology can end someone’s life because they had a bad habit using it (Leonard).  This war on society may continue to grow worse and will never stop until people take their habits into their own responsibility, not letting technology rule or end their lives. 

With all of these positive feelings you get from your iPod, some people wonder how they can avoid getting “hearing loss” as a negative listening effect?  Its really not that hard to cut down on your listening time and do other activities while interacting with other people.  You can simply listen to your iPod through your computer like I am right now as I type this very paper and as you do your homework or go on Facebook you can drastically lower the amount of high-decibel sound that hurts your hearing.  You can also just turn down the maximum volume on your Ipod in order to encourage good volume listening habits right now and later on.  So take the challenge and make your “i” stand for interaction, inspiration and initiative to keep your habits down and the positive feelings up.  If you take your hearing and attitude around society into your own responsibility you can help yourself reduce the negative effects you get from listening to an iPod and enjoy the positive ones.